Thursday, January 30, 2014

As of late my heart has been burdened with several things, almost to the point of it being literally heavy in my chest. I have a hard time relaying my feeling about ANYTHING to ANYONE but Jesus & Britney Case. For this very reason, I am positive that that is why Jesus gave her to me. She’s a good listener, and calls me out on my crazy. I never feel judged, but always encouraged, and always re-directed to Jesus, and she’s basically my own personal cheerleader. ANYWAYS! This blog is NOT about Britney; although that day may come eventually! This blog IS about several things-two of them being: Handling your emotions, and making sure you’re giving them to Jesus in every situation. I will start with this new personal challenge that Britney, and I have called ourselves to after reading a blog post somewhere on cyberspace. The challenge: Respond, do not react. I have the HIGHEST tendency to flip my lid when I feel wronged, or when I feel like someone I care about has been. Lately, my conviction of this has been HUGE. I hate making people feel small, I hate it when people make me feel small, and I realized that on occasion I would react completely from a place 100% in my flesh. Working on deep breathing, praying for the person in that moment, and responding with grace, like the grace I have been given-has been my homework. Going back to the starting message of this blog; I have been re-hashing out/ re-learning/ re-remembering to give every burden on my heart over to the Lord. Not only is it the healthiest option for your heart, but for your mind as well. When you aren’t stuck thinking about the same guy, job, situation at work, things going on at home, playing out scenarios over and over again in your head leading you to feeling broken, rejected, disappointed, or just plain sad-your HEART will be in better spirits too. So, in the long run, it may be harder to loosen your grip on whatever is weighing your heart down, and you may even MISS the heaviness, but your joy will be full. Knowing that you’re handing over these things that your worldly self deems “important” over to the Maker of the heavens and earth, the SAVIOR of the world…will hopefully ease the separation anxiety. I was going to end this blog entry here, but the topic of guarding your heart is something else that is heavy on mine. I know I have blogged about dodged bullets, keeping your heart guarded, and endless other dating kind of topics, but it’s not something that I feel we could talk enough about. It’s super important to me. I have been fortunate to have not gotten too seriously hurt in my life time. It’s been a long life looking back, but it has been an EXTREMELY blessed life more so. I do not know how to seriously scratch the surface on how to protect your heart. I think it might go pretty hand in hand with what I was talking about earlier though. When you give the burdens over? Give the heart where the burdens lie over also. I have only asked God to protect my heart one time…I thought it was a Christian cliché and by just having a relationship with Jesus-He would automatically guard my heart. And while He did to an extent, by sparing me from being heartbroken; there is so much more to it than that. Your heart needs to be handed over willingly. Your heart needs to be WRAPPED UP IN AND WITH CHRIST. If He is your first love, your primary focus, your greatest good…Your heart is gonna stay pretty guarded. This is something I myself struggle with, so it will be an ongoing topic-as I grow-I will share! I will keep y’all updated on my progress with the respond/react, and the whole handing over my issues to Jesus thing. I love you guys! Till next time! <3